At the end of 2019, a deadly disease came to our attention. Starting in China, it quickly spread across the globe to almost every other country in the world. Coronavirus, as it is called, is highly infectious, spreading through the air and entering human bodies via the eyes, mouth and nose infecting at an alarming rate. It causes the disease Covid-19. Most humans recover from the infection but for some, it is fatal. On Wednesday, March 11th, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Covid-19 a global pandemic.
To stop health services being quickly overwhelmed by the weight of numbers of patients needing to be admitted to hospital (this virus spreads at an exponential rate) and in an attempt to reduce the huge numbers of predicted casualties, governments across the world make the difficult decision to force everybody to stay in their homes, self-isolating themselves from everyone else and thereby help to slow the transmission rate.
Work stops, streets empty and scenes never seen before become the norm. We witness panic buying of basic staples and a surge in online activity as we remain stuck in our houses, glued to the news, watching and waiting for signs that the infection is becoming under control as hundreds of thousands of people become infected and tens of thousands die.
We are living in unprecedented times as a chapter of human history we will never forget is written. The world we left to go into lockdown may be gone for good when we get out.
Lockdown
Early 2020, Coronavirus came to our shores
Bringing with it times we’ve never seen before
People starting getting sick with symptoms like flu
Friends, an invisible enemy, standing right next to you
As it spread, a pandemic it became
Every day lives changed, never the same
Governments forced us into our homes
Stockpiling madness picked shelves to the bone
Toilet rolls, pasta and every type of soap
Crammed into trolleys and bags along with the hope
That by hiding away in self-isolation
There would be swift end to the decimation
So many lives lost as twice seen before
Counting in zeroes – our Third World War
Hospitals fill, resources stretching to break
All doing our bit for everyone’s sake
From front line support to just staying inside
To slow the spread and turn back the tide
It’s only three months, so many have died
So many more will – there’s nowhere to hide
From the fact that lockdown came too late
COVID-19 infecting at an alarming rate
We were not prepared, how long will we stay
In lockdown and fighting, surviving each day
Protecting our loved ones and strangers alike
Watching and hoping that today is the spike
That vital moment when we gain control
Downward the numbers begin to roll
Testing, more testing, a vaccine, immunity
Every day closer to once more being free
No longer closed off, instead closer than ever
Once more looking forward to a future together.